2nd Week of Lent - Evil

"Arise, and do not be afraid!" St. Matthew 17:7.

You may have heard the story about the wealthy gentleman of many years ago who advertised for a coachman to drive his team and carriage. In the daily paper he put the following ad: WANTED, A COACHMAN WHO KNOWS HIS BUSINESS. NONE BUT THOSE WITH STEADY HANDS AND COOL HEADS NEED APPLY.

Three candidates applied for the position. To each one he put this question: "How near can you drive to the edge of a cliff without throwing the car­riage over?"

"Within a yard," confidently answered the first applicant.

When the same question was put to the second candidate he answered: "I can go within a foot of the edge."

The third man received the same test question. "Well, sir," he slowly answered, "I never tried to see how near I could drive to a dangerous place. I always try to keep as far away as I can."

"You are the man for me," declared the employer, as he took the man into his service.

Getting to heaven is something like scaling a mountain. It is a continual climb. Often the road is littered with the rocks and ruts of temptation. Frequently there are sharp turns and narrow, dangerous spots. We can't always avoid temptation. But we can stay away from evil, the perilous precipice, which brings death to the soul. The trick is not to get as near as we can without taking a tumble. The sensible course is to stay as far away from it as we can. To do this in spiritual life is impossible without the help of God. That is why in the last petition of the Our Father we ask our heavenly Father to "deliver us from evil."

"Deliver" here means to keep all evil away from us as much as possible, and to keep us away from evil, too. It means that, should we fall into it, or come perilously near, we want the Lord to save us from it.

Again we use the word "us," because we want ourselves delivered first but not ourselves alone. We want the Lord to deliver our friends and rela­tives and benefactors from evil also. We ask the Lord to deliver everyone from sorrow and trouble and affliction. It is a prayer of all of God's chil­dren for all of God's children.

By "evil" we mean first of all the devil with all his works and all his boasting. We mean harm of any kind and all kind. Trials and crosses are included in this evil, in so far as they might lead us into sin. Often God permits affliction as a means of merit and reward. In particular, the word "evil" includes evils of the soul and evils of the body:

1. Deliver us from evil of the soul:

A. This means above all from mortal sin, which is the death of the soul, the precipice over which the soul falls when it seriously, knowingly and intentionally offends Almighty God.

B. Loss of grace and hardness of heart are also spiritual evils.

C. Deliver us from religious persecution and from dangers to our faith, so numerous about us, especially in this day when dissent and public repudiation of the Church's teaching are practiced daily.

D. Deliver us from an unprovided death and from the greatest evil­
eternal damnation.

2. Deliver us from evil of the body. This prayer, of course, is conditioned upon the will of God, who sometimes permits physical evils to work a greater spiritual good.

A. There are private evils, like sickness, bad health, poverty, the ill-will of associates, and accidents of all kinds. Do you ever say an Our Father as you start on a trip?

B. We also ask the Lord to spare us from public calamities like famine, revolution, depression and war. These days, when war threatens all around the world, we should ask the Lord to please deliver the world from the evils of war.

It is most natural and necessary that we ask God to spare us suffering and affliction. Yet, many neglect to do this. They pray to God only when human resources fail. All too frequently priests will have people, Catholics and non­Catholics, go to them with some difficulty or problem, some marriage misunderstanding and the like, who, in answer to my question: "I guess you have prayed over it, haven't you?" will answer frankly: "No, Father, I suppose I should."

They neglected the best and often the only means for solving their problem, the only way of delivering themselves and their loved ones from some threatening evil.

They were near the edge of the cliff of spiritual or physical evil, and failed to take the guiding hand of the good Lord.

Say the Our Father from now on with increased understanding and attention, say it often and say it well. Then you will not be afraid, as our Lord today told His Apostles not to be afraid.
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Adapted from Prayers, Precepts and Virtues
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, 1949